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Cover Oregon Still Doesn't Cover Anyone

The billboards and ads are eye-catching, and they paint a utopian picture of health care and wellness now available in Oregon at the behest of benevolent big government. Never mind the facts showing recipients of government health care, (Medicaid) have no significantly better health outcomes than those without insurance, they're going to sell you the dream regardless.

Some estimate as much as $28 million will be spent on feel good songs and other advertising to convince people to enroll in "Cover Oregon." Except, so far, you can't enroll in private insurance at all.

The reality is, that one month after the health care exchange was to be rolled out in Oregon, not a single person has signed up through the private marketplace. You read that correctly - not one.

The bureaucrats who believe they always know best have spent over $300 million on a website that doesn't work, to enroll no one for private insurance. Since the website is such an abject failure, the state will need to spend more money hiring 400 people to process paper applications. It's like an episode of Portlandia, except it's real life.

Will these incoming applications be for private insurance? No. So far the only applications sent out are for approximately 260,000 Oregonians who receive public benefits and would be eligible for Medicaid. Where will the state get the funds to expand these benefits?

Last year, State Representative Jim Weidner expressed concerns on the House floor over the the implementation of the "Oregon HealthCare Transformation" project, citing huge budget shortfalls, lack of oversight and the increased demands on an already burdened welfare system.

Tough choices will have to be made soon in these state legislatures. They cannot print money like the federal government can. You'll likely be told once again by technocrats that due to increased demand, there isn't enough money to educate your children, or pay for other essential services like fire and police. When those politicians come to you demanding that you turn over more of your hard earned money to the government, remind them what they spent to advertise a program that doesn't deliver on its promises and on a website that doesn't work.

What Americans were sold is not what they're receiving. Is there no truth in advertising for the government? Apparently not. This is fraud. We should call it as much.

Governor John Kasich stuck to his practiced Medicaid expansion pitch - a mix of progressive pseudo-Christianity and outright falsehoods about the program's funding - during a speech at a July 9 Statehouse rally for socialized medicine.

The Columbus Dispatch advocated for Ohio Medicaid expansion in 8 staff editorials while quoting nearly 3 times more Medicaid expansion supporters than critics in news coverage that slammed opponents and shielded proponents, a full review of stories published from February 4 to June 18 reveals.

It might surprise you to learn that hydroelectric power is not renewable energy. Well, it's not considered renewable in Oregon, anyway. Despite the fact that the engine of electricity production literally falls from the sky - at a higher than average rate for the United States. Due to bureaucratic nonsense, hydroelecric power cannot be applied to the state's mandate to produce 25% of its power from renewable resources. Luckily, a plucky group of citizens has picked up on this anomaly and is attempting to correct the problem.

The coalition of hospital lobbyists, insurance companies, and political operatives who pushed through Medicaid expansion under Obamacare in Arizona have a repeal fight on their hands.Over 300 grassroots activists came together on Saturday in Phoenix to kick off a petition drive to put repeal of Governor Brewer's Medicaid expansion plan on the ballot. If successful, the drive will showcase the power that comes when principled conservatives organize inside a political party.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer earned much conservative praise for her colorful duels with President Obama. So Republicans from coast to coast were stunned to find her transformed into a passionate Obamacare booster.

Once feted by grassroots conservatives nationwide, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer moved radically to the left in 2013. In her State of the State address, she surprised many by embracing Obamacare, calling for a massive expansion of Medicaid.

On May 29, 1973, popular and iconic Republican Governor Tom McCall, famous for his environmental advocacy and anti-development rhetoric (“I urge them to come and come many, many times to enjoy the beauty of Oregon. But I also ask them, for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live.”), signed into law Oregon's transformational land use legislation that made virtually every land use decision subject to review by state agencies.

Governor John Kasich, a Republican seeking reelection in 2014, continued his push for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion in Ohio with a June 2 USA Today op-ed noting that President Reagan expanded Medicaid in the 80s.